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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN [replace with] BANGLADESH

Dr. Jamilur Reza [replace with] Choudhury

Professor of Civil [replace with] Engineering, BUET

Bangladesh has a relatively [replace with] long experience in the use of computers - the first "second [replace with] generation" computer was installed in 1964 at Dhaka and very soon [replace with] some of the large banks and industrial concerns started using computers, [replace with] mainly for accounting and payroll applications. The utility companies [replace with] (e.g. gas, electricity) also started using the bureau facilities of these [replace with] installations for their customer billing. Unfortunately, the financial [replace with] crisis that the country faced immediately after its independence in 1971 [replace with] did not permit the sustenance of this early lead and lack of maintenance [replace with] forced the closure of most of these installations.

Although the possibility of [replace with] export of data entry services and software from Bangladesh has been [replace with] discussed for over a decade, only a few companies were successful in [replace with] getting some work from outside. In June 1997, the Government of Bangladesh [replace with] appointed a Committee (with the author of this article as its Convenor) to [replace with] look into the problems and prospects of export of software from [replace with] Bangladesh. The Committee submitted its report in September, 1997. It [replace with] contained 45 recommendations, both short term and medium term; some of [replace with] these recommendations have already been implemented and the government has [replace with] asked different concerned ministries to go ahead with implementing the [replace with] other recommendations.

Although not properly [replace with] exploited yet, Bangladesh does have quite a few inherent strengths which [replace with] can be used as the launching pad for making this country a potential [replace with] offshore source of Software and Data Processing Services. Some of these [replace with] advantages are :

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• A substantial number of educated [replace with] unemployed youth force, with ability to read and write English, exists [replace with] in the country. They can be trained in the required skill [replace with] (particularly in Data Processing Services) within a short time.
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• Quite a few Bangladeshi skilled [replace with] professionals have been working abroad. They can be encouraged to [replace with] return to the country and/or collaborate with Bangladeshi [replace with] entrepreneurs, provided proper environment is created.
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• Universities in Bangladesh are turning [replace with] out an increasing number of graduates in Computer related subjects [replace with] every year, although the number is much less than the requirement.
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• A large number of Bangladeshi students [replace with] are studying overseas in Computer related subjects.
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• A wide range of Hardware platforms, from [replace with] Mainframe to PC, are available.
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• Reasonable skills exist in the following [replace with] areas :
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• Operating System - Windows, Windows [replace with] 95, MAC/OS, Novell Netware, Windows NT, UNIX, OS/400.
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• Programming Language - C++, Visual [replace with] Basic, Visual FoxPro, COBOL, RPG, OOP, J++
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• RDBMS - Oracle, Informix, DB/2
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• Bangladesh offers a very attractive [replace with] cost-effective wage level, viz.
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The government has taken a [replace with] decision recently (June, 1998) to withdraw all import duties and VAT from [replace with] all computer hardware and software. This has brought the prices of [replace with] computers down to a level affordable by middle income households and sales [replace with] of PCs have soared during the last few months. A 80-90% annual growth in [replace with] the number of PCs sold is expected this year.

An Information Technology [replace with] village is going to be set up very close to Dhaka. The government has [replace with] already made 18 acres of land available for setting up this IT village. [replace with] This would be similar to the Software Technology Parks in India. All the [replace with] infrastructure, including high-speed telecommunication facilities ( 2 Mbps [replace with] link) would be provided. These would enable the small companies to move [replace with] into buildings with readily available facilities. Since this is going to [replace with] take at least two years, a decision has been taken to initially set it up [replace with] in an existing building in Dhaka.

In June, 1996 the [replace with] government decided to allow private companies to act as Internet Services [replace with] Providers (ISPs) using VSATs. At present, there are about 22,000 account [replace with] holders with the ISPs ( 8 in Dhaka and 2 in Chittagong) and the total [replace with] number of users would be around 100,000. The slow speed of access provided [replace with] by VSATs ( max. 128.8 kbps) is a major constraint. A number of Cybercafes [replace with] providing e-mail and Internet browsing facilities have been opened in [replace with] Dhaka city; these are quite popular among the young generation. Public [replace with] kiosks with internet facilities are also being planned.

BTTB has already [replace with] established a network for providing Internet connectivity and plans to [replace with] start commercial service very soon. The proposed tariff rate should make [replace with] Internet connection affordable to a larger cross-section of public. BTTB [replace with] is also establishing a fibre optic backbone in the country. They also plan [replace with] to offer ISDN service very soon using the facilities of the already [replace with] installed digital exchanges in Dhaka and Chittagong cities.

In order to enable the [replace with] young entrepreneurs in the IT field, a special fund has been created by [replace with] the government to provide working capital loan without any collaterals. A [replace with] venture capital fund is also being set up. The banking procedures are also [replace with] being amended and simplified to reflect the different nature of software [replace with] transactions.

Experience of other [replace with] countries shows that it is very difficult to achieve success in exporting [replace with] software unless there is a big domestic market. The government ministries [replace with] and departments are being asked to computerise their activities. A [replace with] domestic price preference of 15% would be given to suppliers of locally [replace with] developed software.

Bangladeshi students have [replace with] recently been participating in international programming contests. For [replace with] example, in the ACM Inter-collegiate Programming Contest held at Atlanta, [replace with] USA, last year, the team from Bangladesh University of Engineering and [replace with] Technology (which had earlier emerged as the regional champions) secured [replace with] the 24th position, above many of the reputed universities in USA [replace with] (including Stanford University). In the on-going ACM programming contest [replace with] on Internet, the performance of Bangladeshi students is among the best - [replace with] out of the top 25 positions, 17 are now occupied by Bangladeshis. In the [replace with] Regional ACM Inter-collegiate Programming Contest held in Dhaka recently, [replace with] teams from Bangladesh (particularly from BUET) performed much better than [replace with] those from other countries of the region (icluding India, Sri Lanka and [replace with] Iran).

Some of the local firms [replace with] have already succeeded in exporting software, although the total amount is [replace with] not very large. One firm has been producing CDs with searchable database [replace with] for US and Latin American clients. CAD conversion work and web-page design [replace with] work are also being undertaken. Taking advantage of the considerable [replace with] number of COBOL programmers who were trained in the sixties and seventies, [replace with] a number of firms are doing work related to the Y2K problem. ERP software [replace with] is being developed by a local firm in partnership with Microsoft.

The government has placed [replace with] top most priority to human resource development in the IT field. At [replace with] present, the annual output of graduates in the IT field would be around [replace with] 500. The target is to produce 10,000 programmers annually by the year [replace with] 2001. There are about 24 Universities offering undergraduate degree [replace with] programmes in IT-related fields. All the four BITs (at Rajshahi, [replace with] Chittagong, Khulna and Gazipur) are also planning to offer undergraduate [replace with] degree programmes in computer science and engineering from next year. The [replace with] 20 Polytechnics are also introducing 3-year diploma programmes in Computer [replace with] Technology. In addition, a large number of educational and training [replace with] institutes, many of them with linkage with foreign institutions, are also [replace with] offering training courses. One of the major problems faced by these [replace with] institutions is the shortage of trainers. Recognizing this problem, the [replace with] GOB Committee (referred to earlier) recommended that BCC should take up a [replace with] crash programme to train at least 1000 high-level trainers by the end of [replace with] 1999. Moreover, the absence of adequate physical resources (e.g. computer [replace with] hardware and software) and weakness in course contents in the training [replace with] institutions will adversely affect the quality of output from these [replace with] institutions. An accreditation system is planned to be introduced by the [replace with] government soon.

BUET was the first [replace with] institution to offer post-graduate degrees (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) in Computer [replace with] Science and Engineering. Some other institutions have also initiated [replace with] research programmes in IT related fields. These include Machine Learning, [replace with] Pattern Recognition, Speech Recognition, Automatic Translation, [replace with] Computational Algorithm, VLSI and 3-D Vision. Considerable research work [replace with] has been done in the use of Bangla in computers. Unfortunately like [replace with] R&D in other fields of science and technology, there is very little [replace with] interaction between academia and industry.

Efforts were initiated [replace with] about 13 years back to introduce computers in schools and colleges. [replace with] ‘Computer Studies’ has been introduced as an optional subject both in [replace with] SSC and HSC examinations. The lack of adequate physical facilities, [replace with] computers and qualified teachers has resulted in very few students opting [replace with] for these courses. Experience of other countries shows that teaching of [replace with] computer programming by incompetent teachers may do more harm than good. [replace with] Therefore, teacher training is one of the priority actions to be taken.

In order to co-ordinate the [replace with] computerisation activities of government and semi-government agencies a [replace with] National Computer Committee was set up in 1983. This was transformed into [replace with] the National Computer Board in 1988 and the Bangladesh Computer Council [replace with] was set up in 1989 by an Act of Parliament. It had some initial problems [replace with] and faced a lot of criticism from the IT community when it became more of [replace with] a regulatory body, rather than a promotional body as originally envisaged. [replace with] It is planned to strengthen BCC by inducting more IT professionals, so [replace with] that it can play a bigger role in IT development in the public sector, [replace with] particularly in human resource development.

A large number of [replace with] Bangladeshis are now working in the IT field in different companies in USA [replace with] and are gradually moving up the organizational hierarchy. The government [replace with] is trying to get the assistance of these non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) [replace with] in IT development, particularly by giving them incentives to set up [replace with] software companies in Bangladesh.

The lack of any copyright [replace with] protection for software has been one of the major deterrents in the growth [replace with] of software industry. A software Copyright Protection Act has already been [replace with] drafted and is expected to be enacted very soon.

Although the banking sector [replace with] had been among the pioneers in computerization in Bangladesh, the present [replace with] level of computer usage in banks is very low. The foreign banks operating [replace with] in Bangladesh have taken a lead in computerizing their front office [replace with] operations. It is only during the last 4/5 years that some of the [replace with] Bangladeshi banks have started gradually computerising their front office [replace with] activities and very soon a network of automatic teller machines (ATMs) [replace with] using VSATs would be set up by the private banks throughout the major [replace with] towns.

At present, Internet access [replace with] is available only in a few Universities. The University Grants Commission [replace with] is setting up BERNET (Bangladesh Educational and Research Network) [replace with] establishing linkage among the Universities and providing access to the [replace with] Internet.

One of the major [replace with] constraints in the initial stages of computerisation of government offices [replace with] was the non-availability of Bangla software and Bangla fonts in printers. [replace with] The breakthrough came when the PCs were introduced in the early eighties [replace with] and very soon desktop publishing using computers became very popular. [replace with] Bangla version of many of the commonly used packages like world [replace with] processing, spreadsheet and database management have been developed.

Almost all the IT related [replace with] developments which have taken place during the last few years are [replace with] concentrated in the capital city, Dhaka; in other cities and towns, only a [replace with] small number of computers are being used, mostly for word processing. (The [replace with] government funded training institute NTRAMS at Bogra, with a few hundred [replace with] PCs is a notable exception). The danger of increasing the already existing [replace with] disparity between urban and rural areas looms large in the horizon. In [replace with] order to enable rural populace to get the benefits of IT, Grameen [replace with] Communications is trying to develop a system linking the mobile telephone [replace with] systems (which are already being used in a large number of villages) with [replace with] solar-powered computers. This would enable the large number of rural [replace with] educational institutes, offices and households to get the benefits of [replace with] e-mail and Internet access. Moreover, some of the data processing services [replace with] could be rendered by people living in villages, rather than moving into [replace with] urban areas.

The present government has [replace with] recognized IT as one of the priority sectors and is providing all support [replace with] to the private sector to enable them to enter the export market for [replace with] software and data processing services. Recognizing the bright future of [replace with] IT, a large number of students, young professionals and businessmen are [replace with] taking keen interest in acquiring knowledge about computers and its [replace with] applications. This is reflected in the tremendous enthusiasm generated in [replace with] the on-going International Computer Show organized by Bangladesh Computer [replace with] Samity. It is expected that within the next 3 to 4 years, IT applications [replace with] in Bangladesh would not only spread to various private and public sector [replace with] offices and industrial units, but Bangladesh would emerge as a regional [replace with] hub for software development.